The 49th Annual Grammy Awards airs Sunday night at 8 on CBS.
Mary J. Blige could be without the most Grammy nominations of any artiste this year, but it might not be as gratifying for her. Already an owner of three of the awards, the R&B star has eight more bids, mainly related to her chart-topping album The Breakthrough and its single, Be Without You. Blige also is scheduled to perform during CBS's broadcast of the recording industry's 49th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday.
Fellow nominees Christina Aguilera, Gnarls Barkley, Beyoncé, Dixie Chicks, Ludacris, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Justin Timberlake (who will team with the winner of a 'My Grammy Moment' contest) and Carrie Underwood also are slated as performers for the event at Los Angeles' Staples Center. So are the Police, who will reunite to open the show. Among those set to present statues are Black Eyed Peas, Ciara, Nelly Furtado, Terrence Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Pink and Rihanna.
Still, Blige may well remain the night's ultimate star. "I'm really happy about the nominations," the Bronx, N.Y., native says. "Basically, that's the win right there, because that's the real vote. People are saying they love your music enough to nominate you eight times, and that's just beautiful. It's a blessing and it's humbling.
"It also lets you know that whatever you have been doing, in terms of staying in touch with people and staying relatable, you must continue to do it," Blige adds. "I remember that years ago, I had no confidence in what I did. I just did it, and people were like, 'Wow, you're such a great writer and performer.' I couldn't see it, but now, I'm ready to. It tells me I'm really solidified."
So does Blige's Breakthrough teaming with U2 on a remake of the group's classic One, up for the Grammy for best pop collaboration with vocals.
"I've always loved that song," she says. "Actually getting the chance to meet Bono and U2 was a real treat for me. Their body of work is wider than mine, and One is something I've always felt passionate about. The world has gone through so much, I just want people to know we're in this together. That's why I chose that song."
If one of her current Grammy bids stands out for her, Blige maintains it's song of the year for Be Without You, explaining she "never thought in a million years I'd even be singing a record like that, about trying to make a relationship work. Men have hurt me so badly in the past, it just didn't matter then."
Blige has been married to music executive Martin Kendu Isaacs since late 2003. "To have grown to a point where I can sing about being with a person as long as he treats me right, it lets me know my fans are ready to grow with me," she reasons. "That's what made that song so huge.
"People want to try to love harder than they've ever loved before, but on the flip side, you've got people hurting harder than they've ever hurt before. That's why Be Without You is a big deal to me, because there was a time when I didn't know if I even wanted a man in my life."
Scoring a best R&B album nomination for The Breakthrough, her seventh studio release, also is significant to Blige. "That's the whole collection, everything I worked so hard on for almost a year ... being in the studio day and night, really enjoying it, and believing in and nurturing the product.
"And the nomination with U2 is Mary J. Blige in a new light. That's like a rock-and-roll/soul record for me. To be recognised as someone who delivered that the right way means a lot to me."
Best R&B song
Be Without You also has made Blige a Grammy nominee for record of the year, best R&B song and best female R&B vocal performance. Additionally, she's in the running for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals - with Jamie Foxx, for Love Changes (from his CD Unpredictable) - and best traditional R&B vocal performance for I Found My Everything.
The day her many nominations became known, Blige was involved in announcing all the Grammy contenders. "When I'm working, I'm focused on what I have to do, not on people reading my name over and over again. I didn't realise what had happened until I got back to my hotel room and was watching CNN. I didn't get it until then, and my heart started racing. Then I had to calm myself down and sit down and, with all humility, just be happy it was happening for me."
As a prelude to the Grammys, Blige played a cheerleading coach last week on Jennifer Love Hewitt's CBS series Ghost Whisperer. It wasn't the singer's first acting turn, and she recalls, "I was just warming up when I did Strong Medicine and The Jamie Foxx Show and (the Court TV movie) The Exonerated. I guess I was just testing to see if I needed more work or an acting coach, which I did.
"When I did Ghost Whisperer, I found I'd learned a lot more, I guess just from watching movies and seeing other people act. I think I did pretty good, not horribly."
In fact, Blige intends to get back in front of cameras as 2007 proceeds, as long as it fits in with her main career. "I'm going back into the recording studio for seven to eight months," she says, "working on a new project and trying to understand what it is that people want from me, but I'm definitely going to go more into this acting thing. I really had fun doing Ghost Whisperer. They told me they were happy with my ability to follow direction and, I guess, be an actress. So that's what I'm gonna do."
- Jay Bobbin, Zap2it
